Perkins Anthony: biography, filmography

Undoubtedly, the first Hollywood "maniac" is an actor Anthony Perkins. A photo of a handsome young man did not go away for a long time from the glossy covers of magazines about cinema in the first half of the sixties. But, as it turned out, the actor can become a hostage to his most successful role. Spectators no longer perceived it differently, as Norman Bates from the Hitchcock thriller "Psycho." It was necessary to it to be removed only in sequels of this film yes in passage low-budget "horror films".

On the personal life of Anthony Perkins there were many rumors. He did not hide his sexual inclinations, which we would call unconventional orientation. But he was in the life of the actor, in addition to violent romances with men, and quite legal marriage with a woman who gave him two sons. In this article, we will follow the whole life path of this Hollywood celebrity.

Family, childhood, education

Who is Anthony Perkins? His biography simply had to intertwine with the world of cinema. After all, his father, Osgood Perkins, in the thirties was a true ruler of Broadway. Anthony was born in 1932, on April 4, in the city of New York. More children from Osgood Perkins and Janet Esselstin were not. But if Anthony's father became a professional actor only after thirty, he himself from childhood was attached to the theater. As Perkins, Jr. recalled, his first role was the scream of a bat in the play "Dracula." Later he was a stage worker, mastered and installed the scenery. In his youth, Anthony still could not decide what he wanted to become: a singer, an actor, someone else?

Osgood Perkins died when his son was only five years old. The boy was raised by his mother, a very strong-willed woman. Anthony was educated in private educational institutions. At first it was the elementary school "Buckingham Brownie and Nichols" (Cambridge, Massachusetts), and then the average "Brooks School" (North Andover, Massachusetts). Then he graduated from Columbia University in New York and entered the private College Rollins in Florida (Winter Park).

Carier start

After Perkins Anthony recorded two solo albums, he realized that the singer's career is not his path. As an actor, he was more fortunate. In the theaters, he gradually managed to break out of the crowd into more or less prominent roles. So, he played in the production of "How important it is to be serious" by Bernard Shaw. Then Anthony began to dream of Hollywood. Fate smiled at him this time too. In 1953, the young man was offered to play in the film "Actress", where his partner on the set was Spencer Tracy. Because of frequent absences, Perkins student was never able to graduate from Rollins College in Florida. Only after twenty years he was awarded a diploma of the above-mentioned university. But the actor star of Perkins rose in the sky of Hollywood. In twenty-four years he starred as the son of the protagonist in the film from the life of the Quaker community "Friendly Exhortation." But the zenith of fame was yet to come.

Anthony Perkins: filmography before "Psycho"

In total, the actor's record contains one hundred and sixteen works. The film "Friendly Exhortation" (directed by William Wyler) was awarded the "Golden Palm Branch". This gave Anthony Perkins the opportunity to advance in 1956 and next year at the Oscar. He did not receive awards, but he became very popular. Already in 1957, the actor received the role of sheriff Ben Owens in the tape "Tin Star". In 1958, he was lucky to play along with the magnificent Sophia Loren in "Love under the Elms" (Iben Cabot). The following year was marked by two works of Anthony Perkins. These are The On the Beach films, where he reincarnated as Lieutenant Peter Holmes, and Green Gardens, where the actor brilliantly played Abel.

"Psycho"

The turning point in Perkins's career was his work with Alfred Hitchcock. This black and white psychological thriller later entered the classics of the genre of American Gothic. Perkins Anthony played in the movie of the dual owner of the motel owner Norman Bates. The roles also starred actresses Vera Miles and Janet Lee (Merion Crane). Thriller "Psycho" literally took Anthony Perkins to the top of glory. The actor so expertly conveyed the duality of Norman Bates, revealed the sinister shadow of his mother, which hung over the soul of a soft and weak-willed man, that he became the most unforgettable cinematic "villain." Learning that the actor was not awarded an Oscar, Alfred Hitchcock said: "I'm ashamed of my colleagues." But the medal of fame has the downside. In America, the image of the schizophrenic villain so "stuck" to the actor, that he was no longer perceived in any other role.

Life in Europe

However, this attitude was not immediately apparent. When the work on the psycho thriller was completed, Perkins Anthony went to France in 1961. He was invited to a role in the film "Goodbye again" (director Anatol Litvak). It was a free adaptation of the novel "Do You Love Brahms?" By the writer Françoise Sagan. And in Europe, he too was accompanied by luck. For the role of a young American who pursues the main character of the film in the performance of Ingrid Bergman, Anthony Perkins suddenly won a prize as the best actor at the Cannes Film Festival. After that, he became literally the idol of Paris. His hair and costume were imitated by thousands of teenagers in France. Perkins remained in this European country all the sixties. He starred in "The Phaedra," "The Process" (the adaptation of F. Kafka), in the thriller "Scandal" directed by Claude Chabrol.

Life in America after the return

At home, the actor returned in the late sixties. The audience has not yet forgotten who Anthony Perkins is. Films involving neurotic, psychopathic and maniac again began to appear on American screens. Cult was his work in "Charming Poison" (1968). But on this fortune turned to Anthony Perkinson with his back. The audience did not perceive the actor in other forms. Perkins returned to work in the theater, and for a long time his name disappeared from the pages of the tabloids. He also traveled once again to France and starred in Claude Chabrol in "A Monstrous Decade." And in the early eighties luck again for a short time smiled to the actor. The wave of the sequelmania inspired the company "Universal" to withdraw the "Psycho-2". In his fifties, the still youthful actor again starred in the role of Norman Bates.

Director's work

In 1986, Perkins Anthony himself decided to remove the cream from his image of a psychopath and neurotic. To this end, he made the film "Psycho-3". However, much to the disappointment, the tape expected a complete failure. Two years later he once again tried himself in the role of director. But the movie "Vezuchka" - a black comedy about cannibalism - was clearly unsuccessful.

Anthony Perkins: The Private Life

It is necessary to give the actor proper: in the fifties, when in America unconventional sexual relations were taboo, he did not hide that he was gay. His lovers were mostly actors. But they talk about a novel with such a star as Rudolf Nureyev. And with Grover Dale, the choreographer, he lived for six years.

At forty he met Victoria Prinsipal, an actress from the television series "Dallas", after which he began to visit a psychologist in order to get rid of homosexual inclinations. In the end, he married journalist Berry Berenson (1973). From this marriage two sons were born. Oz now made a career as an actor, and Elvis became a musician.

Anthony Perkins died of AIDS-induced pneumonia on September 12, 1992 in California. His widow Berry died tragically. She was a passenger of an airplane that crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.